McGill

I. SUMMARY

In mid-August 2006, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office convened a grand jury investigation into possible misuse of public funds by the superintendent of the Capistrano Unified School District, James Fleming. (See generally Fleming v. Superior Court (2010) 191 Cal.App.4th 73 [ 119 Cal.Rptr.3d 275 ] {Fleming).) The district attorney’s office’s theory was that the school superintendent had misused public resources by authorizing subordinates to compile lists of individuals who had supported a recall of the school district’s board of trustees in 2005. {Id. at p. 77.)

One of those subordinates was Susan McGill, the assistant superintendent of the school district until she retired in June 2006, just months before the grand jury began its investigation in August. McGill’s specific role in the alleged misappropriation was, according to the district attorney’s office, this: Superintendent Fleming sent assistant superintendent McGill, along with the *1460 school district’s public relations officer, David Smollar, down to the county registrar of voters to look at the various recall petitions that had been turned in, and to copy down names of recall supporters.…